How Much Does Executive Communication Coaching Cost—and What Does Poor Coaching Really Cost?

That is the short answer.

But price is only one part of a useful answer—because the price of coaching is visible. The cost of being misunderstood in a consequential moment often is not visible until it is too late.

What determines the cost of executive communication coaching?

The investment depends on four things:

1. What is at stake. A quarterly presentation and a category-defining keynote are different assignments. So are a routine team update and the investor conversation that determines whether a company gets funded. And I think it is important to remember that, actually, all of your communication is high-stakes communication. Family. New acquaintances. Casual work settings. What might become possible from any of those conversations? You are not the kind of person who engages in much communication that does not matter.
2. How deep the work needs to go. Sometimes a leader needs to clarify one important, perhaps complex, message. Sometimes the opportunity is to develop an Origin Story, strengthen executive presence, build a body of thought leadership, or uplevel how they communicate across every part of their leadership. Leaders are very often most grateful for the unexpected benefits that emerge from the work.
3. How much time and access will create the best result. Even a focused three-month engagement can be transformational—even for an already excellent communicator. Six- and twelve-month engagements infuse the principles and create excellent habits as they become part of how a leader thinks, speaks, and leads.
4. Whether the work is for one leader or an organization. Private coaching is highly individualized. Team and organizational programs can make world-class communication development highly affordable on a per-person basis. Very often, we begin with one leader and are then asked to work with the entire organization.

The right question is not simply, “How many coaching calls do I get?”

What needs to be different when this engagement is complete—and what kind of difference could that make for me and for my success?

What are you actually paying for?

You are not paying for a borrowed persona, performance tricks, fake charisma, or a list of gestures to imitate.

You are investing in highly personalized work on the real communication demands in front of you: the board meeting, investor pitch, keynote, TEDx Talk, media interview, all-hands, leadership transition, difficult conversation, or idea that deserves to live in the world.

The work is grounded in neuroscience, evolutionary biology, and more than three decades of professional speaking in high-stakes environments—along with 15+ years of coaching executives, scientists, physicians, engineers, founders, astronauts, and leaders inside organizations including NASA, GE Aerospace, Johnson & Johnson, Boston Scientific, and Accenture.

The objective is not merely to make you look polished.

It is to help you become clearer, more trustworthy, more memorable, more persuasive, and more fully yourself—so that how you communicate becomes a match for how brilliant you really are.

We are not in the business of changing your style. We are here to make your style even more effective, inspiring, and influential.

What does poor coaching cost?

The real cost is not paying for great coaching. It is paying for coaching that does not change behavior—or actively makes things worse.

One global organization told me that a previous presentation coach had instructed everyone to keep their fingertips pressed together the entire time they spoke because it supposedly made them look more authoritative.

It does not.

After a while, it just looks weird. Most people cannot keep doing it for long, but they try, and then it gets even weirder.

Another team had been taught, “If you’re nervous, just look over the audience’s heads.” That advice actively disconnects a speaker from the audience. People know when you are not looking at them, and trying to fake eye contact usually makes a nervous speaker look even more uncomfortable.

And yes, executives are still told to imagine the audience naked.

Most of the time, that is just yucky. It also does not help.

These are not harmless presentation tips. Bad coaching can make an accomplished leader less engaging, less trustworthy, and less connected to the people they need to reach.

The expensive part is often the missed opportunity

What can poor or mismatched coaching cost?

• The investor who never understands why the company matters
• The board that hears information but does not feel confidence
• The customer who cannot repeat the value proposition
• The team that leaves an all-hands meeting less aligned than when it arrived
• The technically brilliant leader whose expertise does not land
• The keynote audience that applauds, forgets, and changes nothing
• The high-potential executive who looks less ready than they truly are

Communication is not decoration around leadership.

When your words shape trust, alignment, investment, decisions, or action, the quality of your communication affects the quality of the outcome.

What can excellent coaching make possible?

The clearest evidence is not a promise. It is what leaders do after the work.

At GE Aerospace, senior engineering leaders learned to make deeply technical ideas clear, human, and memorable for a high-stakes global audience. At JLABS, one TEDx Talk grew into a 15+ year relationship that has included leadership-team development and pitch coaching for scientific founders across the United States and Europe. Alan, an exceptionally brilliant technical founder, used the principles to turn a high-stakes keynote into category authority and qualified business conversations. Sebastian Bates transformed an extraordinary personal story into a presentation that earned Speaker of the Year recognition.

Those leaders did not need less expertise. They did not need to “dumb it down.” They needed more of their expertise to land.

Explore the Executive Speaking Success case studies →

What are the current ways to work with John?

Nonprofit organizations

Nonprofits are invited to ask about limited special pricing. Availability depends on the work, timing, and fit.

How do I know whether coaching is worth the investment now?

Consider coaching now if:

• An important opportunity is approaching
• Your visibility or responsibility has grown
• Your expertise is stronger than your ability to communicate it
• The message affects trust, investment, alignment, or action
• You want principles you can keep using—not a temporary performance
• You are ready to be coached, practice, and change

It may not be the right time if you are looking only for a quick cosmetic fix, someone to write a generic speech for you, or a collection of tricks that make you look like someone else.

The question behind the price

I understand that I am not the least expensive option.

What I have learned after coaching leaders for decades is that people sometimes gulp when they hear the price. But when someone asks afterward whether it was worth it, their face lights up with a huge smile and they say, “Yes!”

The results—and the return on the investment—are clear and present.

Cheap is remembered on the invoice. Great is remembered in the outcome.